Midwives link up to discuss rural birthing services

Staff retention and professional development are expected to be some of the issues discussed when midwives across Queensland hold their first rural midwifery forum today.

The forum is being held via video conference and has been organised by Roma Hospital midwifery unit manager Anne Bousfield.

She says the continuity model of care, where midwives provide pre-and-post birth care, is gradually being rolled out across the state.

However, she says that has created some problems.

"So we have midwives working in labour rather than midwives rostered should a woman come into labour," she said.

"So that these women [know] who their midwife is and who will be looking after them during the labour and birth and so that comes with a whole lot of challenges in terms of restructuring the whole workforce."

She says because of the vast distances involved it is hard for midwives in rural areas to share concerns about their work.

"I suspect we've all got very ongoing similar issues such as workforce recruitment and midwives' access to education, upskilling, so that's really the starting point to what we hope will be a regular meeting and judging by the enthusiasm that I've had from across the rural part of the state, I think it will be," she said.